International Industrial Design
What is an International Industrial Design?
Every international industrial design shall be registered in accordance with the Hague Agreement, in accordance with the Hague Act or the Geneva Act of the Agreement. The registration is done by the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization, which administers the international registration of industrial designs. The International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) maintains a centralized international register and issues an international bulletin of industrial designs.
The objectives of the system are to obtain protection for each international industrial design with one registration, which corresponds to multiple national registrations. The result is single maintenance and
renewal of registration. This gives the opportunity for all actions in this registration to be carried out in one place. Any industrial design may be the subject of an application for international registration under the international registration system. It is not required to be registered with the national office. The system of the Hague Agreement greatly facilitates the applicants. In practice, the filing of a single international application overcomes the need to file multiple national applications. All countries of business interest to the applicant may be selected in the application for registration of an international industrial design.
It is important to know that the international application, in which Bulgaria is a country of origin, has no effect on our territory.
APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION OF INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Content and term of protection
The international application for registration of an international industrial design must contain:
∴ identification data for the applicant and the author of the design. This data is public. It must be updated on time in case of a change of the actual holder of the design rights;
∴ country of origin;
∴ the design for which protection is sought. The request must be accompanied by clear images of the design. The images shall be photographic or graphic, black and white or color. They must not exceed 25 images per page;
∴ the design and its product (s);
∴ indication of the countries in which protection is sought;
∴ indication of whether the applicant wishes to postpone publication.
It is important to note that an application may contain several different designs (up to 100). The requirement is to belong to the same class of the International Classification for products of Locarno. The international registration shall have the same effect as registration according to the national law of the designated Contracting State. The scope of protection is determined by the national law of the Member State in which territory the registration is valid. The term of protection of an international registration shall be for an initial period of at least 10 years. The registration may be renewed for additional periods of 5 years up to the maximum period of validity determined by national law. The renewal requests shall be filed to the International Bureau.
PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
1. Filing of application
An application for international registration of an industrial design may be filed directly with the WIPO International Bureau. The Bulgarian Patent Office is another option for Bulgarian citizens or companies. Any natural or legal person who is of nationality or has a registered office of a member state of the Hague Agreement or has an address registration or an effectively operating industrial or commercial enterprise in the territory of one of these countries may apply. The application for international registration shall be filed in one of the official languages of the Agreement – English, French, or Spanish. A form prepared by the International Bureau and the images of the design shall be placed on a white A4 sheet. It is also necessary to pay the fees due for international registration.
2. Formalities check and Registration
When an application for international registration of an industrial design is filed, it shall be subject to verification by the WIPO International Bureau as to the conformity of the application with the formal requirements. Any application for international registration of an industrial design that meets the formal requirements shall be entered in the International Register. The registered design shall be published in the International Design Bulletin. An exception is a case where a deferment of the publication has been requested.
3. Examination
The International Bureau of WIPO does not carry out an examination of the novelty of the industrial design. Therefore an application on this ground cannot be refused. A substantive examination shall be carried out by the Office of a Member State if such a procedure is provided for in the relevant national legislation. As a result of such examination, a Member State may refuse the international registration by notifying the International Bureau. This may happen within 6 months of the date of publication of the registered design. The reasons for the refusal (these reasons may not relate to the formal requirements of the application) shall be stated. In case of a refusal, the Office shall indicate the term for rejection and the instance before which the decision may be objected. The International Bureau shall notify the holder of the registered design in the event of a refusal by any party.
The subsequent procedure for objection to the refusal of registration shall be carried out in the national offices. It is in accordance with the requirements and procedures provided for in the applicable national legislation, i.e. by the procedure and with the means if the application for registration of the industrial design was filed directly to the national office of industrial property.
